Tactile simulation of textile fabrics: Design of simulation signals with regard to fingerprint

Abstract

This study describes a systematic approach to generate control signals of a tactile simulator to render the touch of textile fabrics. As a friction modulation tactile surface is used, control signals were generated from tribological measurements on real surfaces. Forces were acquired from an artificial finger, with a texture mimicking fingerprints. Then the signals are processed in frequency domain and send as control signal to the tactile stimulator. This paper focusses on the potential benefits of including the fingerprint information in the simulation of fabrics for achieving realistic tactile perception. A sensory analysis with 36 participants was carried out using the generated control signals, and results show a better discrimination without fingerprint information.